Trump says Reflecting Pool needs more repairs, blames 'terrible Vandals' – USA Today
President Donald Trump said the recently refurbished Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool “probably” needs to be drained to make additional repairs, a move he blamed on “terrible Vandals,” many of whom, he said, had been arrested.
“What these terrible Vandals have done is a true affront to both Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and should be dealt with accordingly,” Trump said on social media Saturday, June 20.
Trump said “many additional people have been arrested” in connection to the “disgraceful Vandalism of our beautiful Reflecting Pool.”
Multiple photos and videos over the past week have appeared to show newly applied blue paint peeling away from the pool’s surface amid an algae bloom.
After meeting with contractors, the president said the pool, which had “worked perfectly,” had been severely damaged by corrosive and destructive chemicals poured into it in addition to a “gash” in its surface.
“What they have damaged does not even include the earlier killing of a large amount of grass which was, by far, the least of it,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “They took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete.”
Trump said repairs would be completed “as quickly as possible.”
The additional work will come some two weeks after Trump said that work on the Reflecting Pool had been finished, part of an effort to spruce up the landmark ahead of events marking the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Trump announced the project to transform the Reflecting Pool in April, saying it had been subject to complaints about leaks and lack of cleanliness. Algae at the pool has been a recurring issue for decades.
The huge project sparked controversy over the cost, which has topped $16 million, according to government contract records, and the choice to paint the bottom of the water feature “American Flag Blue.”
Contributing Jeanine Santucci
